Driver Issues
It's a bad day. Or rather it's going to be a bad day.I just knew it, i knew it even before my day officially started. I made the conclusion at about 8am while driving to school for my 8.30am lecture. Everything felt wrong, straight from the moment I got out of bed. The feeling amplied once I fit into my Honda's driver seat. I dun feel as comfortable as I should, for some reason. Usually Id steer with just one hand on the normal roads, my left usually, with my right hand propped up against the side window ledge. It's just habit i guess, perhaps my brain registered it as the most comfortable orientation in the dimensions available to me. Often i wouldn't even notice my posture until I've driven for quite a distance. Today, however, i drove with both hands instinctively right from the start. I do not know why. This is coupled by a gloomy feeling within, as if indicating an omen of some of sort. I kept shuffling about in my seat uncomfortably... until i reached the AYE. It's jammed, as i would expect at this time of the morning. I drove along the outermost lane, which i assume is the fastest.
Then it happened...
The BMW in front of me started to brake, indicating a slowing down of the traffic. I followed suit. The next moment, the darn BMW reduced from around 40 mph to a near halt, apparently the driver made a sudden harsh step on the brakes. The bumper of the BMW, for a while, seemed actually to speed towards myself. I braked instantly, bringing my car to a near halt as the BMW did. And from my rear mirror, I saw the Toyota behind made a dangerous emergency brake due to the folly of the drivers ahead, the car body bouncing drastically upwards from the impact of the spared kinetic energy. I did not see what happened to the cars behind the Toyota, I dared not even imagine what could have happen.
Jesus! That could have caused a bloody accident! Had the drivers behind the BMW been less observant, a line of vehicles all the way to the back could have crashed into each other!!
I wondered if it was my fault though ... that i tailed the BMW too closely behind. A part of me told me otherwise... I do not know, and I do not wish to know.
******
Many of my friends had often mocked or suanned me for being a lousy driver, reminding me of my follies or near misses on the road in my early days of driving. Initially i laughed along, as I too registered that view when I've just acquired my license.
Much time has past, however, since my period of negligent behaviors on the road. I cant help but feel distrusted or even pissed when more often than not, I kept being "reminded" of my "substandard" driving skills in front of my friends. I know I'm not the best driver on the road, but I do feel that I do not deserve the repeated taunts on the issue. A few times is tolerable, we all suann-ed each others in our social life. When it becomes too repetitive, however, it really became what sounded like a nicer way to say "Man, you suck!". I too have feelings, though perhaps some may feel it's more sensitive than average. I know I'm confident on the road, and I know I can drive, and I know that I am skilled in one way or another behind the wheel. I've always potrayed myself as a safe driver, or at least I tried to be one, although I too have my moments of folly.
To err is only human, which I am one.
posted by JaNuS @ Monday, August 22, 2005
